Scorpion’s Travis wins 9 Counties novice championship

Scorpion boxers James Boyd, Travis Heaney and Aine McAllister who won who won titles at the Newtownstewart 9 counties Ulster novice championships

Published:12:38Monday 28 December 2015

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Scorpion Boxing Club finished off 2015 in style when 15-year old Travis Heaney won the 9 counties Ulster novice championships at Newtownstewart.

Aine McAllister and James Boyd also won title, however, they didn’t get to show off their talents in the ring as their opponents failed to show up.

Travis Heaney who won his fight at Newtownstewart 9 counties Ulster novice championships with Decland and Karen

Travis however, showed his potential as he did his coaches Alan ‘Spike’ Martin and Declan McKernan proud.

“Travis fought very well,” commented Spike Martin. “He was outstanding in his Youth 1 57Kg category and the judges gave him the unanimous decision.

“Unfortunately for Aine and James their opponents didn’t weigh in and they won their championships with a walkover which is disappointing for them, although I am confident that they would have won their fights anyway.”

With a young crop of boxers at Scorpion, Spike and his team are keen to nurture and develop these young fighters.

“We have a good crop of youngsters at the club at the moment and we are working hard to train and develop them and bring them along,” added Spike. “We fought recently at the show in St. Paul’s, Belfast and they all did extremely well. We also went along to Holy Trinity in Belfast for a sparring session.

“We have been building really good relationships with Holy Trinity who have a brilliant reputation for producing top fighters and that has come on the back of my association with the Belfast Beltway project and it can only serve to benefit everyone at Scorpion.

“Holy Trinity have been very helpful with giving us their facilities for squad training and we took the entire gym there to spar.

“They have a very talented fighter called Kane Tucker and he sparred with Lewis Dickey and Lewis did very well and impressed everyone. We will be hosting our own show on 29th January and Holy Trinity will be bringing fighters down for it. After that we will focus on the Antrim championships and then the Ulster Open.”

Members of Scorpion Bocing Club who enjoyed a sparring session at Holy Trinity Belfast

Some of the young Scorpion boxers with coaches Decland and Karen at Holy Trinity Boxing Club, Belfast

Dillon McGill and Dathan Harrigan with their coaches Decland McKernan and Alan 'Spike' Martin after their fights at St Paul's, Belfast